


Let him have cake.

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A tiny tiny bit of angst, Birthday Cake, Dark Castle Fluff, F/M, but Belle makes it all better, silly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 04:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8735266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Rumple gets a bit upset, but cake makes everything better.





	

Rumplestiltskin was bored; there were no good deals to be made today so he smoked himself down to the kitchen to see what trouble his little maid was getting into. He lurked in the shadows by the kitchen door for a moment watching as Belle sang softly to herself while she leafed through a thick book.

“Reading again, dearie?”

She didn’t even jump; instead she greeted him with a warm smile.

“I thought I’d try some new recipes.”

He strolled across the room to stand behind her shoulder, with anyone else in the realm this invasion of personal space would have caused squirming and discomfort, but Belle was a strange girl, she leaned back closing the space between them further and began pointing out some of the recipes she was considering trying out. As she turned the page his eyes gleamed; the illustration was of a rich, sumptuous looking cake.

“I like that one.”

Belle cocked her head and hissed through her teeth as she read the instructions; it was a complex recipe that was most likely beyond her skills for now.

“Maybe for your birthday.”

Rumple snarled, “If you don’t want to make it you just had to say so.”

He stormed away without looking back. Belle frowned and tried to work out what had upset him so badly, and she knew he was upset because he’d left on foot instead of poofing himself away with magic; he always seemed to forget his powers when he was emotional. She drummed her fingers against the table top before shutting the cookbook and putting the kettle on.

She found him brooding in his chair in the Great Hall. During her time in the castle she’d become adept at gauging his mercurial moods and decided that this situation called for silence. She served his tea and took her habitual perch on the table. The quiet continued as they drank their tea, once his cup was empty he rose to his feet and walked out of the room. He paused in the doorway, his fingers twisting together as he took a slow breath. He spoke to her over his shoulder.

“I don’t have a birthday. Well obviously I do, but I was abandoned as a babe, so I don’t know when it is. I’ll be in my tower until dinner.”

Belle’s heart twisted as he retreated from the room. No wonder her off-hand comment had upset him so. She chewed her lip for a moment and then hopped down from the table; there was just time to put her plan into action before dinner.

Rumple was a little late to dinner; the potion he’d decided to concocted had been troublesome. His thoughts were still on what had gone wrong when he finally noticed the cake.

“What is this?”

Belle gave him one of those warm sunny smiles that did odd things to his insides.

“Happy Un-birthday!”

Rumple rolled his eyes; “You’ve been gossiping with the Hatter again.”

“Jefferson and I have talked yes, and he told me about this Wonderland tradition. Since we don’t know when your birthday is we will celebrate an Un-birthday for you every day. Of course that will mean there will be cake for dinner every day, which you will probably get tired of…”

She saw the exact moment that the possibility of missing out on cake every day hit him, it was a little mean of her to use his sweet tooth against him like this, but she didn’t want him to huff and tell her off for having such a silly idea.

“No, no, I think it’s an acceptable suggestion, but it should perhaps be a different cake each day, just to keep things interesting.”

If he was trying for manipulating Dark One he missed the mark, he sounded more like a child trying to wheedle a treat from an indulgent parent. Belle pulled a thoughtful look on to her face.

“Yes, I think that would be best, you might have to help me occasionally, I’m still learning how to cook after all.”

He nodded slowly, a shy smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

“I could do that, don’t want you setting fire to the kitchen again.”

It was Belle’s turn to roll her eyes; “I’ve only done that twice.”

She handed him a knife which he took carefully from her hand.

“Un-birthday boy gets to cut the cake.”

He gave a very un-Dark One like giggle of glee and cut two generous slices of the simple buttercream filled sponge she’d made. There were crumbs on his face and a blob of cream on his top lip, but he looked so happy.

“Thank you Belle.”

“Tis no matter.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's my birthday today. My gift to the Rumbelle fandom is this silly piece of fluff, because gods know that we need all the fluff we can get right now.


End file.
